


A Key to the Cranium

by WoozySloth



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Related, Gen, Gossip, Keyblade Wielders (Kingdom Hearts), Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts), Philosophy, Questioning, Questions, Training, aqua taking lea to school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 00:24:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18510160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoozySloth/pseuds/WoozySloth
Summary: Master Aqua tries out having an apprentice.Lea is...a student.





	A Key to the Cranium

Aqua's warmup...'kata' or whatever actually looks more like she's drawing symbols in the air with her keyblade. For all Lea knows, that's actually what she's doing, so he's loathe to even  _think_ that it looks more pretty than functional.

"My first rule-"

Lea's already prepping himself to think of ways to work around whatever these rules are going to be, an instinct born of years of shenanigans for the entertainment of himself, others, and the forces of evil.

...He's lived a life (a few) alright?

"Keyblades only. No chakrams."

"Hey, I'm past that, alright?" Seriously, she'd been in the Realm of Darkness while he struggled to get used to his strange new weapon - by the time Aqua had gotten out, he was basically a Big Magic Key exclusive.

"Then you shouldn't have a problem following the rule."

"Ha, you got me there. What's the next one?"

"You have to stay engaged with our conversation while we're sparring."

"Conversation?"

"Multitasking is an important skill. I expect you to be able to hold up your end of our lesson while fighting."

"Sooo...less of a conversation, less of a spar, more like a lecture with, y'know, injuries?"

Aqua smiles at that, which already makes turning up to 'school' worth it - smiles aren't always as quick as they could be amongst the Departure kids.

'Kids'. She's older than he is, technically. Still. Ah, she's talking again.

"If you want to think of it that way. Finally, low level magic only, nothing overly dangerous or taxing."

Much as he's a 'nice guy' now, Lea can't resist the dig:

"Fraid you'll get burned, teach?"

The smile he gets this time has a touch of danger about it.

"I just don't want you flickering out before our lesson even gets going."

Lea doesn't know Aqua all that well, really, but he's quickly deciding he likes her - even aside from her significant part in saving the universe.

"Got all that, Lea?"

"Sure sure, I got 'em memorised. So, WHOA!"

Already he's gotten something out of this - Lea's not sure he's ever summoned Liberator to hand so quickly, but like a lot of things with him, it's happened best on instinct.

"No rules about cheap shots, huh?" 

Aqua smiles as she slides Stormfall off of his blade and into yet another lightning fast strike.

"I thought you had them memorised?" She 'asks' sweetly, and yeah, he's definitely liking her more and more.

He flips Liberator into a reverse grip to try and get by her strike and into her guard, only to hit air as she cartwheels away.

How is that a practical battle manoeuvre, again?

"Pretty sure Sora Dodge Rolled a Keyblade into your face on more than one ocassion, so I wouldn't go questioning a Master."

Ah, he'd said that out loud.

"No, I got it from your face."

...Can she read minds? Is that a Keyblade Master thing? It would explain a lot about Yen Sid. And Xehanort. And - 

She's hit him in the stomach.

"Multasking, Lea."

"Right." He wheezes, and on a whim he turns the wheeze into a gust of fire at her feet.

She leaps over it, aiming Stormfall down at him on her descent, burying it in the ground when he, yes, Dodge Rolls out of the way.

"That's impressive fire magic."

"Thanks, means a lot coming from a specialist."

She backs up his compliment by ripping up a mound of earth with her keyblade and firing it at him. He takes a page out of her book and cartwheels to the side, yelling;

"I thought earth magic was Terra's thing?"

"So I can't branch out?" She sends a gust of wind his way to drive the point home, throwing him off his balance and to his knees

He's got Liberator up to block the follow-up attack, which she makes with a look of frankly  _insulting_ disinterest on her face.

"Speaking of branching out - why stick to fire magic?"

Lea grunts - he's stronger than her, physically, but she's got him at a bad angle.

"Hey, I'm good at it, aren't I?"

He summons a ring of fire around himself, both to make her back off and to prove his point.

"What if you were to encounter an enemy that absorbed or countered it?"

She sends a bullet of ice at his face, which is low-level magic, sure, but  _his face._

"I'd hit it over the head."

He smashes the bullet back at her, which is mostly pointless since she just bats it back at him. 

"Magical enemies are often best dealt with through magic."

"You might be a bit biased there, sister." He bats the ice back at her again.

"Master." Back to him.

"Gotcha," back to her, "but plenty of magic users are actually kind of wimpy physically. You saying they're best dealt with through magic could come from you dealing with  _a lot_ of things using magic."

"Fair," she's whipped the ice around and multiplied it, sending many more small shards at him. 

"Hey, low-level magic!" He shouts, dodging and swatting and burning to get the ice magic away.

"I think you'll find these are individually fairly low-level."

"Oh we're playing it that way?" Lea's found his loophole - he fires a few dozen small fireballs in every direction.

"I suppose. But I'm just curious - when you were Axel," she begins as she cartwheels around and diffuses various small fires, like she hasn't just brought up..."you were able to use Corridors of Darkness. I've never heard any accounts of you using other Dark powers though."

"Why would I?" He's lost her now, which is obviously a bad thing. The light and smoke from his various fireballs is working against him.

"You say I deal with a lot of things using magic," Aqua's using wind magic or something to hide the source of her voice, so she's kind of proving his point, "but you've stuck to this one element for an awful lot of situations."

"I make it work," he defends, "I adapt it. The Corridors were useful in different ways, like my Coat, like my chakrams."

"Like your Keyblade?"

"Yeah, like my - "

He hears a tutting sound from behind him. Whirling, he brings Liberator around in a strike that's maybe going to be a bit harder than it needs to be, if it connects.

It doesn't, of course. Stormfall knocks his keyblade out of his hand, so hard his arm goes numb.

Aqua stands there, looking...he'd expected some stern teacher vibe, or disappointment, but she mostly looks-

Curious.

"I think that's enough for today."

Lea's eyebrows raise.

"So there's a tomorrow?"

"Sure. If you like."

Lea cradles his hand, thinking.

"Sure. Gotta get my Keyblade diploma somehow, right?"

Aqua smiles, not as widely as before, but softer, somehow. He briefly thinks it's filled him with warm fuzzies, like a lot of things have since he got his Heart back (he'd forgotten what a  _softy_ he was) before he realises it's Cure magic.

"Oh, thanks."

"I expect I'll need to do this a few times." She replies serenely, like she isn't implying that she's going to inflict a lot of physical harm on him.

"...great."


End file.
